Today, more than ever, business are looking for ways to cut costs and increase productivity. One way to accomplish both while simultaneously catapulting your business into the digital age is to use a ﬁle sharing website.

A ﬁle sharing service allows a user to upload documents, photos, videos etc. to an offsite, online, virtual server to which access is determined by you.

Here are 10 ways a ﬁle sharing service can help your business by saving both money and time:

Save Money

1) Eliminate Servers: With costs starting in the low thousands, and ranging to several times that, a basic server is a serious investment for any business. By using an online ﬁle sharing service you can replace a physical server with a virtual one, eliminating the expense of purchasing and maintaining your own.

2) Pay For What You Use: Purchasing physical storage devices is a compromise between capacity, need (both present and future), and cost and once the decision is made it is not easy to change. With an online ﬁle sharing service you have the option of multiple plans with different levels of capacity, ﬁle size, access speed, and customizability. By offering a tiered payment structure, sites such as mediaﬁre.com and rapidshare.com allow businesses to buy what they need and change plans as their needs change.

3) Forget the IT Department: With ʻdrag and dropʼ simplicity for ﬁle management, and several sites providing online tutorials, managing a virtual server is extremely user friendly. Since troubleshooting, maintenance and upgrades are taken care of by the site, your business can do without the considerable overhead of a large IT department.

4) Professional Security: File sharing websites provide both top-notch data security
online through encrypted file transfers and physically guarded servers. Mediaﬁreʼs “state-of-the-art computer services are protected by biometric locks and 24-hour surveillance.” Users are now able to obtain super security without the costs of hiring a small army to protect their data.

5) Never Another Lost File: Ever lose data due to your computer getting an unfortunate coffee bath? What about a power outage, or ﬂood? By utilizing an off-site virtual server your ﬁles are immune to destruction from local accidents and catastrophes, saving you the costs and worry of protecting your data.

Save Time

6) Quickly Share Files: Instead of tediously selecting contacts from an email address book, an online server allows you to quickly share ﬁles with all other users by simply uploading the data to the site. Donʼt want everyone to see what you are posting? The option to password protect ﬁles grants the ability to select which users have access to which ﬁles. If you want to bring in more users, simply share the password.

7) Keep Everyone Up to Date: In addition to being able to share ﬁles easily, when using a virtual server any changes made to the ﬁle are also immediately available to all other users. This allows businesses to ensure everyone in the ofﬁce is working with the most up to date ﬁles at all times, instantly.

8) 24/7 Access: No longer do you have to be at work to access your work ﬁles. By hosting your data on a ﬁle sharing site you have access to it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When inspiration strikes outside of the 9-to-5 you can cash in by having all of your work ﬁles on hand no matter where you are.

9) Multi-platform Support: Gone are the days of forgetting presentations and documents at the ofﬁce before big meetings, with most ﬁle sharing sites supporting an array of devices you can download another copy to your laptop, tablet, or even mobile phone while on the go.

10) Simplify Backup: With the majority of your ﬁles stored on a virtual computer there is no need to save ﬁles on individual workstations. Since the ﬁles are saved online, there are fewer chances for mistakes and less time wasted backing up every computer in the ofﬁce.

For business, agility and the ability to adapt quickly are paramount to success. By moving your data storage to an online ﬁle sharing website, you are ensuring that your company is in the best possible position to keep on the cutting edge of technology and efﬁciency.